Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I am here with
Speaker 1: Derek Chang. He is the CEO of Liberty Media, also
Speaker 1: sitting on the board of the Oversight. Liberty Media is
Speaker 1: of subsidiary that oversees Live Nation. Derek, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for being here. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Lisa, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: So I want to start with the idea that everyone
Speaker 1: here is talking about scale, getting enough scale, merging up,
Speaker 1: particularly in the media space. You moved in the opposite
Speaker 1: direction last year, breaking up into a host of different entities.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about why you decided to do that.
Speaker 2: Well. I think if you look at Liberty Media over
Speaker 2: this history, it's had a history of sort of expansion contraction.
Speaker 2: You know, we kind of go with the flow a
Speaker 2: little bit depending on on what the circumstances are and
Speaker 2: what the market is is, you know, asking for and
Speaker 2: what we think that we should be doing for our shareholders.
Speaker 2: So I don't think in this particular moment it was
Speaker 2: a specific strategy of we're ultimately going on a trail
Speaker 2: of sort of getting smaller. It was clarifying and simplifying
Speaker 2: the structures and so delivering two shareholders sort of what
Speaker 2: assets they want in what places at this particular moment.
Speaker 2: But you know, over time, we have had tracking stocks,
Speaker 2: we have spun out companies, and now we're sort of
Speaker 2: back to a more simplified structure, and it's really it'll
Speaker 2: provide that clarity for shareholders.
Speaker 1: So you oversee, your two main properties at Liberty Media
Speaker 1: are Formula one and Moto GP, which is relatively new
Speaker 1: in the US, very big in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering how you're thinking about a media strategy.
Speaker 1: Just signed this five year deal with Apple in terms
Speaker 1: of streaming rights, is it the same between streaming and
Speaker 1: legacy cable networks? Is it sort of all the same
Speaker 1: at this point when it comes to sports licensing, Well,
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: It still depends on market, on what markets you're actually in,
Speaker 2: and so in a lot of markets like the US,
Speaker 2: at this point, the streamers have a you know, you
Speaker 2: just spoke about scale, a lot of scale, and I
Speaker 2: think that historically people have said, oh, you've got to
Speaker 2: be on a broadcast network, otherwise you're not going to
Speaker 2: have the reach. I don't think that's true anymore. And
Speaker 2: I think the deal that we did with Apple basically
Speaker 2: has shown that that is, you know, for US, Apple
Speaker 2: has We've seen no real drop off in terms of viewership,
Speaker 2: and in fact, engagement overall is higher than it was
Speaker 2: before in the early sort of going here the first
Speaker 2: three or four races that we've had this year. And
Speaker 2: I think what that speaks to is streaming platforms, certainly
Speaker 2: in the US have reached a level of maturity and
Speaker 2: even beyond you'd say, and you see it right now
Speaker 2: with sort of what's gone on at the NFL. There
Speaker 2: are recent deals that they're doing, so clearly it's part
Speaker 2: of sort of mainstream viewing habits and this whole concept
Speaker 2: I think that people with the knock on streaming was
Speaker 2: also you don't you lose sort of the sampling effect.
Speaker 2: And I think what you see with our deal with
Speaker 2: Apple is is that people sample in different ways. We
Speaker 2: go into an Apple store, or you watch other content
Speaker 2: that's on Apple TV or Apple Music, or what they
Speaker 2: do with Apple Maps, which they did in the Miami
Speaker 2: Race where they sort of created and a you know,
Speaker 2: integrated into Apple Maps with stuff around the Miami Race
Speaker 2: and the had special content for that race. So you've
Speaker 2: got platforms now that because of the technology they have,
Speaker 2: because of their sort of an Apple Scace singular focus
Speaker 2: on Formula one, the ability to actually expand your audiences
Speaker 2: in different ways than you ever have.
Speaker 1: Do you think that you're going to move to a
Speaker 1: Netflix type of model that you did with F one
Speaker 1: when it comes to MotoGP in the US, where you
Speaker 1: have a TV series about it, you sort of broadcast
Speaker 1: it to popular consumption in a way to democratize exactly
Speaker 1: what it is.
Speaker 2: Well, I think what you're going to see with Moto
Speaker 2: GP is a lot of what we did with Formula one.
Speaker 2: There will be similar applications of that. So the biggest
Speaker 2: thing for us with MotoGP is how do you take
Speaker 2: the sport which at its core is a very pure
Speaker 2: sport and a huge, you know, passionate fan base, and
Speaker 2: how do you expand that? How do you get more
Speaker 2: people engage, whether it's in the US or worldwide? And
Speaker 2: I think you do that by telling the story and
Speaker 2: we haven't told MotoGP, has never really told that story.
Speaker 2: And you do that through writers, You do that through
Speaker 2: the action on the track, and you do that sort
Speaker 2: of in multiple ways, through content, through fan activation at races,
Speaker 2: through the licensing partners, and the sponsorship partners that you have,
Speaker 2: But I do think the content piece of this is
Speaker 2: a very important part. Whether you do a show just
Speaker 2: like Drive to Survive, I don't know if that's necessarily
Speaker 2: going to happen because it's a different sport and you
Speaker 2: want to remain authentic to your fan base and to
Speaker 2: the fans that you're trying to attract. So we will
Speaker 2: figure out things that we can do in and around
Speaker 2: Moto GP that sort of creates the same impact, and
Speaker 2: making it available and making it accessible to as broad
Speaker 2: a fan base as possible.
Speaker 1: You also help to oversee Live Nation. The Live Nation
Speaker 1: investment is through the Liberty Board. And I'm curious from
Speaker 1: your perspective, take a price to really expensive. Everyone talks about,
Speaker 1: everyone complains about it that the inflation in ticket prices
Speaker 1: to go see events is incredibly high, and then they
Speaker 1: still go, how do you understand the inflation at ticket
Speaker 1: prices whether it's World Cup and what's going on there,
Speaker 1: or whether it's basketball at Madison Square Garden and understand
Speaker 1: what's the right pricing? How do you do that strategy?
Speaker 2: Well, the reality is it's it is simple supply and demand, right,
Speaker 2: And so I think what you're seeing is a huge
Speaker 2: demand for live entertainment, live events, and you know, I
Speaker 2: see this through the Formula one lens where our paddock
Speaker 2: club is for the most part sold out through the
Speaker 2: through the rest of the year here or club, that's
Speaker 2: the high end, you know, ticket tickets and hospitality that
Speaker 2: we offer, and I think there's just so much demand
Speaker 2: for these sorts of experiences that the reality is you
Speaker 2: could probably you know, create multiples of availability and it's
Speaker 2: still going to l I don't know about you know,
Speaker 2: the specific has been specific ticket pricing strategy for those,
Speaker 2: but I think ultimately what you're speaking to is there's
Speaker 2: just this demand sent up demand for live entertainment that
Speaker 2: you know, you continue to see despite the fact that
Speaker 2: there are a lot of different things that people can
Speaker 2: go to. But I think that see allure of that
Speaker 2: and the appeal and for different people, it's different reasons, right.
Speaker 2: Some people go specifically for the racing, Some people go
Speaker 2: for the racing and for the food, some people go
Speaker 2: for the racing end, for the celebrities, whatever it is,
Speaker 2: there's this just attraction to it, and I think we're
Speaker 2: bringing that to the fans.
Speaker 1: Derek Chang, thank you so much for being with US
Speaker 1: Derek Tang, CEO of Livery Media,